Workshop #5 SummaryRefining Land Use and Urban Design
September 28, 2002

On September 28, 2002, the Planning Department held the fifth community workshop in the on-going development of the Central Waterfront Neighborhood Plan, part of the Better Neighborhoods program. The presentation began with a recap of the cumulative work the program had produced regarding the overall urban design framework for the plan as well as concepts and proposals for street improvements and open space. The heart of the workshop's discussion focused on the refinement of land use concepts based on further anlaysis conducted by the Planning Department's Better Neighborhoods staff and consultant team.

The factors brought to bear on the analysis included: (1) relationships to the large-scale commercial land uses programmed for southern Mission Bay; (2) a parcel-by-parcel analysis of Central Waterfront properties that revealed parcels with flexible, large floor-plate, multiple-story PDR (production, distribution, and repair) structures, parcels that have seen recent significant investment in PDR, and parcels with concentrations of jobs; (3) a citywide analysis of the role of PDR exploring its linkages with other sectors of the city's economy and its role in supporting a diverse population base with access to jobs requiring varied skill levels (this analysis is found in the Planning Department's paper Industrial Land in San Francisco: Understanding Production, Distribution, and Repair); and (4) potential relative impacts of the power plant and freeway on housing opportunity areas. Discussion of the last factor was enriched by the participation of Dr. Rajiv Bhatia of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

A presentation of the working proposed land use plan and rough zoning matrix for the associated districts was followed by a discussion of urban design objectives for the plan area. These objectives include emphasizing transit nodes and corridors, building on the character and grain of Dogpatch, connecting the Central Waterfront to Potrero Hill and the Bay, and ensuring a high-quality pedestrian realm. A proposed plan for building height limits was discussed, including supporting view analyses of proposed building heights from different public viewpoints on Potrero Hill.

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